Wrestling Roundtable

Hello again wrestling fans and welcome back to the Wrestling Roundtable. We hope you enjoyed last week’s state of the union as we gave our insight on our take on wrestling today. This week, it is the prelude to Wrestlemania, as we are just two short days away from Wrestlemania this Sunday only on the WWE Network for only $9.99. What are our thoughts on the big event? Whats our take on quite possibly a new division coming this summer? This and much more.

First up, it’s me, Frosh. I am hijacking the start of this RoundTable today. Recently, Bleacher Report posted an open letter to wrestling fans. I would like to provide my reaction to several small snippets from that article. I am going to post a link directly to the bleacher report article (Sorry, Steve), so that you can verify that I am not taking anything out of context.

First up: “Now ask yourself a second question. When did you start taking it too seriously?” When I started paying for it. I pay for my cell phone service too. That means I expect the best service possible.

Next up: “Pro wrestling is ridiculous and fun, but when we become too invested, it starts to affect us in a way no form of entertainment ever should. It’s supposed to be an escape from the real world, not another way to make ourselves mad by putting too much thought into it.” Please define “too invested” Would that be paying $9.99 per month for an online network that has streaming issues at peak times? Would that be spending a couple hundred bucks on tickets? Would that be spending $25 each on some T-shirts? .

Next: “What we all need to do is start treating it like we would any other TV show. Think about your favorite sitcom for a moment. Do you sit there and criticize every joke and try to envision how you would have done things better, or do you just enjoy the show for what it is and have a good laugh?”Yes, yes we do. That is why there is a term called “jumping the shark“. That is why TV shows get cancelled. It is why I have stopped watching some TV shows. The difference is, I do not PAY for those TV shows, other than invest my time. We actually PAY to watch the WWE, and to immerse in its universe. So when the writing, or the booking, or anything relating to a service we are PAYING FOR is sub-par, we have the right…nay, THE RESPONSIBILITY to call out the WWE on their failures. We, as a fandom, are too invested to just give up on WWE. However, that doesn’t mean we have to sit back and just stomach the rotten bologna we are fed every week.

Another piece: “Characters go through story arcs and cycles, and it’s the same thing with pro wrestlers. Just because Dolph Ziggler isn’t winning every match doesn’t mean he isn’t an important part of the show. In fact, Ziggler is featured more than most main event stars. He usually wrestles on both Raw and SmackDown every week. The same can’t be said about John Cena.”This is possibly one of the most deceptively asinine things in the article. Barry Horowitz was featured every week….would you say that he was successful? A main eventer? If a wrestler loses every match they are in, they become known as a LOSER. It becomes harder and harder to push that wrestler. Ryback is a perfect example. He lost EVERY PPV main event he was booked in for months. Now, I hear rumors they are trying to push him to be the next heel to challenge Reigns…no…just no, he is not going to be a legitimate threat. It was like when R-Truth challenged Cena for the WWE championship….How a wrestler is booked is JUST AS IMPORTANT as how often they are booked.

Lastly: “There is no greater example of herd mentality than in the case of Roman Reigns. Nobody is forcing you to cheer for him, but there is no logic behind the heat he gets every week.” Yes there is. When Roman was in the Sheild, he was covered by the supremely talented Seth Rollins and Dean Ambrose. His moveset is limited. He has no talent on the mic whatsoever and is just another John Cena clone with no originality to his character at all. We, as a universe have consistently tried to make our voices heard, and the WWE brass have consistently ignored us. If WWE wants the universe to stop booing the main events….CHANGE THE BOOKING OF THE MAIN EVENTS. It is really simple.

I think I have successfully destroyed the main arguments portayed in that open letter. We, as the WWE Universe have every right/responsibility to let WWE know where they are failing us…why? Because we are invested, and because WE PAY FOR IT!

Also, shout-out to Brian from…I believe Spokane, WA….I thought I was wrong once…it turns out that I was mistaken.

1.Roman Reigns- Reigns regains the top spot in the Power Rankings. Can he regain the WWE title this Sunday at Wrestlemania?

2.Dean Ambrose- I get the feeling that big things are on the horizon for Ambrose after Wrestlemania. But a beast stands in his way.

3.Triple H- The WWE Champion is confident, but can he take down the Roman Empire this Sunday?

4.New Day- New Day Rocks…New Day Rocks… Can they rock their way to victory over the LOA?

5.Kevin Owens- The Intercontinental Champion has to overcome tremendous odds this Sunday in the ladder match.

1988- Randy Savage won the WWF Championship tournament to win his first ever WWF World title. He defeated Butch Reed, Greg Valentine, One Man Gang, and Ted Dibiase in one night to capture the championship.

2008- Shawn Michaels defeated Ric Flair at Wrestlemania 24, with the loss, Flair wrestled his last match in WWE.

2010- Speaking of Shawn Michaels, Shawn wrestled his last match when he lost to the Undertaker at Wrestlemania 26

Here are the questions this week.

What are your bold predictions for Wrestlemania 32?

Steve: Here are by bold yet totally incorrect predictions for Wrestlemania. Keep in mind, last years Mania I think I picked three matches correct. I was not very good. So here we go and I am not going to go through the whole card, just the matches that I give a shit about.

Roman Reigns wins the WWE Championship over Triple H

Dean Ambrose will defeat AND PIN Brock Lesnar with outside interference from the Wyatt’s

Eric: Wrestlemania is this Sunday live on the WWE network! Here are my bold predictions for Sunday: Pre show first, Usos over the Dudley Boyz, Brie Bellas team over Lana team and Bray Wyatt wins the Andre the Giant memorial Battle Royal. Now for the actual event: New Day over League of extraordinary mid-carders, Kalisto over Ryback, Zack Ryder wins the Intercontinental title Ladder match, AJ Styles over Jericho, Sasha Banks wins the divas title, Dean Ambrose over Brock Lesnar, Shane McMahon over Undertaker, Roman Reigns over Triple H. There you go folks. Kinda a few shockers, but it’s Wrestlemania. The night coild be full of surprises, it’s gunna be a decent show, I hope.

Josh: It is going to suck. I am not excited, nor do I care about any match on this card….

Chad: Roman/Dean/AJ/Becky/Kalisto/KO retains/New Day/Dudleys/ Shane with a lot of help because he’s a McMahon their plans are always “Bulletproof”

Todd: Usos def Dudleys Bubba Ray turns on Devon after the loss, Big show wins Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal, Team Badd and Blond def Team Total Divas after Eva Marie turns heel, Sasha Banks def Charlotte and Becky Lynch to become the new Divas Champion, AJ Styles def Y2J, League of Nations def The New Day, Kalisto def Ryback, as much as I hate to say this Kevin Owens retains the IC title, Undertaker def Shane McMahon, Roman Reigns def Triple H.

Jim: I don’t know if I’ll predict it, but I hope and pray Shane takes over RAW, no matter how we get there. Other than that, I predict I’ll be bored to tears.

The WWE has announced that they are going to start a Global Cruiserweight Tournament this summer, teaming with New Japan. This could be the start of a new Cruiserweight division in the WWE. What are your thoughts?

Steve: Depends on if this leads the WWE to bring back the Crusierweight or Light Heavyweight Championship. I don’t see any purpose of this tournament being held if that is not the case. I would love to see the Cruiserweight division brought back to the WWE, as long as they don’t have Hornswoggle win the belt again.

Eric: Excitement, I loved the Cruiserweight division in WCW, I hope this won’t be a disappointment like when WWE tried to copy WCW Cruiserweight division. I think they have all the potential to make something great. So, I’m excited to see how this will play out.

Josh: This should have been done years ago. Cruiserweights consistently put on the most energetic and fastest paced matches. Invest time and money and this will be successful. Think of how many Mega Stars came from the cruiser-weight division: Rey Mysterio, Chris Jericho, Eddie Guerrero.

Chad: Yes please bring the cruiserweight between NXT and WWE there a great matches that can happen for this title.

Todd: I think it would would great if it means bring back the Cruiserweight title. I have said this before, I wold like to bring back this championship to give the smaller guys a better chance so they don’t always have to face bigger guys.

Steve: Has to be the WWE championship match. Despite how many feel that this is a weak championship match. The WWE Championship should always be the last match on the card for Wrestlemania. I still cannot fathom having Shane McMahon in the main event for Wrestlemania. However, I could see it if the Undertaker does lose, and this is his last match. What better way to go out of a historic Wrestlemania run than in the main event, Hell in a Cell.

Eric: Well, if everyone was Healthy, I’d like to see the Main event be John Cena vs Roman Reigns. I think this would be the match for Cena to pass the torch on to Roman Reigns as the top guy of the WWE. You have the top of the WWE for the past 12 years against the new top guy. This would have been a great Wrestlemania main event.

Josh: Dean Ambrose vs. Triple H for the WWE world heavyweight title.

Chad: I’d say Undertaker vs Shane because technically its’ build up as the company being on the line in essence so in my mind the company takes precedence over the title and I don’t want Wrestlemania go off the air with Roman getting booed by a 100,000 strong that would be bad.

Todd: The main event of Wrestlemania should be the Undertaker vs Shane McMahon. The only problem in this match is there really a heel here? Both competitors get a pretty good pop. Any ways it would be a huge mistake to have Roman Reigns vs Triple H as the main event and have Reigns win the WWE World title on the account that the WWE Universe is not behind him at all. That would be a complete disaster.

Jim: The Rock vs Hulk Hogan. Dusty Rhoades vs Ric Flair. Anything but the garbage we’re being force fed. But please stop shoving Triple H down our throats. Your run is over sir. Get out of the way.

Here is a little question on the humor side: What Wrestlemania moment is one that you can just assume forget? For example, what is your worst Wrestlemania moment?

Steve: If there is one moment that I could just assume forget ever happened, it has to be Wrestlemania IX when Hulk Hogan showed his true colors, and had to take away the spotlight and win the WWF Championship moments after Yokozuna won the championship off of Bret Hart. This is all because Hogan did not want to put over Bret Hart because it wouldnt draw money according to him. Well Hogan, this title reign in my opinion is the worst title reign of all time, from the way he won it, never defended it until June where he lost it back to Yokozuna.

Eric: Well there is many horrible choices here for worst Wrestlemania moment of all time. There is the ending of Wrestlemania 8 and 9. There is botched finish between Kurt Angle and Kane at Wrestlemania 18. However, there is one that takes the cake. The worst moment in Wrestlemania history belongs to (drum roll) Wrestlemania 27! That’s right, the entire Wrestlemania was absolutely horrible with the exception of Triple H vs Undertaker, I think we could just erase this Wrestlemania completely and no one would be disappointed. It was absolutely terrible. If you have never seen, please do yourself a favor and dont! You would be better off slamming your hand in a car door than watching Wrestlemania 27.

Josh: Three words and three words only…Snooki is undefeated…..

Chad: The Miz being in the Main event of Wrestlemania 27 as WWE Champion you could of had Punk, Sheamus, Bryan, Orton, Cena, HHH and they went with Miz…terrible.

Todd: Well I could pick the whole card of Wrestlemania 32 would be the worst moment I have ever seen but unfortunately it hasn’t happened yet. So I’m gonna go with Wrestlemania 30 Undertaker vs Brock Lesner. Not the match itself was bad, just the result. I feel Lesner did not need this win to be put over. He was already a beast. If WWE was gonna have Undertake lose they could have at least had him lose to someone to help catapult their career. It didn’t reall do anything for Lesner.

Jim: The worst match I ever saw was at #20, Goldberg vs Lesnar, with Stone Cold as the guest ref. So much hype. So much possibility. Such a crap match. Roberts vs Martel in a sack on the head blindfold match? That was stupid. Sheamus vs Bryan at #28 in an 18 second match. Waste of time. But my all time worst, was Lawler vs Michael Cole, #27. What an absolute waste of air time.

It has been discussed that the WWE needs to drop the Divas division and go back to the traditional Womens division.

Steve: Oh my god yes. This should have been done years ago. These women have some of the best wrestling talent in the history of the WWE. This Divas division is having its ups and downs, but I think that it would be much better if they drop the Divas tag and just put in Womens wrestling like the days of Trish Stratus, Lita, Moolah, just to name a few. This would be a big step for wrestling for women, and woudl bring much more respectability to the division.

Eric: It’s about time. I’m sick of the Diva’s division. Unless they plan on doing bra and panties matches again then the divas division is over. Bring back the Women’s division. If you want it to be more respected and appreciated then it needs to go back to the Women’s division. I think this would help tremendously boost the division and start to give women the respect they deserve.

Josh: Really Steve? That isn’t even a question. I am going to assume from context, that you want our opinion on this…This also should have been done a long time ago…The Diva’s belt/division/identity is an insult to the women wrestlers who give their lives/health and bodies to the sport we love.

Chad: The Divas belt is ugly; the WWE needs to go back to the traditional Women’s Championship belt.

Todd: I think they probably are considering it because to separate them from the rest of the world. So many women around the world went to the divas title. To be honest with you I never liked it when they switched to the divas championship anyways. They should definitely change back to the women’s division.

Jim: Absolutely they should get rid of “Diva’s” and make it about the wrestling. Trish Stratus, Lita. Chyna. Women who could actually wrestle. I’m so sick of style and beauty over talent.

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